Robert Ramirez, 28, was struck once in the chest and was clinging to life at Brookdale University Hospital following the violent fracas outside the Glenwood Houses in Flatlands.
"We're shaken. We're just trying to figure out what happened," said Ramirez's uncle Michael Ramirez, 55.
The unrest broke out about 7 p.m., when two uniformed housing cops, Officers Jason Jeremiah and Dominick DeSiervi, asked residents at a courtyard barbecue to turn down the music.
Witnesses said the cops, both on the force for less than two years, asked numerous people to lower the volume, including Robert Ramirez's stepfather, Jose. Morales, 49, who was sitting at a table.
Accounts of what happened next differ. The witnesses said one cop asked for the identification of Morales, who police said also goes by Adiel Ramirez, but the man doesn't speak English and could not understand the request.
But police said Morales became belligerent, struggling with police and resisting arrest. Sources said one of the cops told detectives Morales punched him.
Witnesses said the cops handcuffed Morales to a fence and then hit him with a baton. Police sources could not confirm that Morales was cuffed to a fence or hit with a baton, saying only that he was pushed up against a bench.
Footage from a witness' cell phone appeared to show someone against a fence with police standing nearby, but did not appear to show a beating.
Moments later, in action not captured on video, Robert Ramirez allegedly ran up from behind and hit DeSiervi in the back with the metal scooter, cops said.
When DeSiervi fell to the ground, sources said, Ramirez picked up the scooter again and struck Jeremiah in the head three times, sources said.
The dazed Jeremiah staggered backward, and when Ramirez again raised the scooter, shot him once in the chest in front of horrified neighbors, sources said. Leonard Jackson, 38, who was the party's deejay, said he was trying to restrain Ramirez when he got shot.
"He dropped out of my arms. I thought I was shot. My ears were ringing," Jackson said. "I just don't want him to die."
The shooting spurred outrage in Glenwood Houses, where the Ramirez family has lived for more than a decade.
"They were just having a cookout here in the park," said Michelle Jackson, a nurse who was walking her dog. "There wasn't anybody doing anything wrong."
Both Ramirez and his stepfather were under arrest last night, but charges were pending.
Relatives said Ramirez underwent surgery last night, during which half of his lung was removed.
"We're just holding on. He's a strong boy," said his aunt Margarita. Ramirez, 57.
The two officers were taken to Kings County Hospital, where they underwent X-rays and CAT scans."
The little creep will probably live, such the pity, even though they took him to one of the worst hospitals in the civilized world. I guess they had to X-ray and CAT scan the cops to see if they had even half a brain in their heads for shooting a black man with an hispanic name. In New York.
*Dezex: French for "Two"
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